Generally, the quality of certain multi-fiber articles may depend upon the quality of the individual fibrous members that make up that multi-fiber article. For example, if individual tows having various defects are combined into a tow band, the properties of that tow band may be adversely affected. Generally, defects in individual tows can arise during the formation of the tow. For example, while spinning individual filaments into a tow, several filaments may join together prematurely prior to complete curing, which can result in a defect known as spinning machine harsh. Tow bands having individual tows exhibiting spinning machine harsh can produce an undesirable product, e.g., a tow band having a lower pressure drop variability. For this and other reasons, a manufacturer of tow may manually inspect a sample of tow to determine if spinning machine harsh is present. However, such an inspection technique is labor intensive and typically results in the monitoring of only a small percentage of the tow being produced. Further, the manual inspection process can be destructive to the sample thereby causing a loss of product. Therefore, there is a need for a system and/or an improved process for detecting a defect in a fibrous member that is less labor intensive, and that can monitor a substantial portion of the product being produced.